The Genesis of the Map
by aldursdisciple12
Summary: Why the Map was created. Just a bit of language
1. Chapter 1

The Genesis of the Map

Ever wonder how the idea for the Marauder's Map came about? I know I did!!

Disclaimer: However neat it would be, I don't own Harry Potter.

"Shhhhhhh!"

"Wormtail, get off my foot!"

"Prongs, your elbow is in my gut, so kindly remove it before I am forced to amputate!"

"Ah, Padfoot, you wouldn't do that, you love me."

"Guys, SHUT UP. I thought I heard something!"

They fell silent. Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew were in the act of sneaking down to the Whomping Willow to join their friend Remus Lupin. While they were travelling under James' Invisibility Cloak, it was only just barely large enough to cover the three fifth years, and it didn't keep them from being heard or felt.

"I think the coast is clear," Peter began, but stopped when a grouchy voice cut through the air in the seventh floor hallway.

"I know I heard the Marauders, my sweet." It was Filch, the caretaker, and his cat, Mrs. Currie. The Marauders loathed that cat. She was always spying on them, and telling Filch is they so even touched a suit of armor. They were never too sure whether or not the Cloak worked on the cat. She always seemed to know they were there, but since she obviously couldn't see them (Filch never caught them if they were under it), they decided to ignore it until they saw her again, when they panicked. Again. They also longed to introduce Mrs. Currie to the wolf that Remus turned into once a month. Well, James, Peter, and Sirius did. Remus didn't, and told his friends that he would kill them if they let him eat anything alive while he was transformed.

"Come along, my dear," Filch muttered sourly, after what seemed a lifetime to the three boys, "they must be here after all. Maybe it's one of their little pranks." When the three Marauders were sure he had gone, they heaved a large collective sigh of relief.

"That was close," Sirius murmured to the other two, and then grinned. "And that is a wicked idea for a prank!" He poked Peter in the head. "Wormtail, can you go check if the coast is clear?"

Peter nodded, and suddenly, there was a rat where once there had been a boy. The rat scurried out from under the Cloak, and disappeared around the corner.

"You know mate," James whispered, "that still freaks me out"

"Awww, is little Prongsie afraid of the small furry rat," Sirius mocked.

"I'm not afraid!" James retorted. "Besides, _you _were the one that jumped into the tree and screamed the first time you saw him transformed. Everyone thought that you were a _girl_."

"That was embarrassing." Sirius turned a lovely shade of red.

"Yeah, we had to tell everyone that you had a bad dream, in the middle of the day, next to the lake, with all your homework on the grass beside you…" James grinned at the memory.

"And who was the one who thought he was going to die the first time he saw my animal form?"

"You became a large black dog that greatly resembles the Grim, what in hell was I supposed to think? You didn't tell me that you had mastered the transformation yet, and all of a sudden there is a black dog coming out of the bathroom, when you had just gone into it. I thought both of us were going to die, you bastard."

"If you two are done arguing about who is the most cowardly," Peter interjected, coming back under the Cloak, "the coast is clear until the stairs. But if you would rather finish this very entertaining conversation, go right ahead."

"Okay, let's go, men!" Sirius started to slowly creep forward, so the Cloak wouldn't slip and expose one of them. He was rather glad that they wouldn't have to compare who was the bigger chicken when it came to first seeing the others Animagus form. He had a feeling he would win the dubious title, since his reaction had been very public.

"If men are going, then you need to stay behind, Padfoot," James ducked the hand that Sirius swung at him, but didn't manage to avoid the foot that was sweeping between his legs. He fell, and landed hard, pulling the Cloak off all three boys.

"You fight dirty," Peter accused Sirius as he knelt beside James.

"Prongs," Sirius was a little worried. The Marauders were used to cheap shots below the belt, and had faster than usual recovery abilities. James shouldn't still be on the floor. "Prongs, are you alright?"

"Padfoot, you are a bloody wanker! I should hex you into oblivion! Marauders do not deliver below the belt kicks to one another unless there is a girl around to impress. Is there a girl? I didn't think so! Peter, get off me, I need to kill my former best mate." To say James was pissed would be an understatement.

"Sorry mate, I thought that you would be able to avoid it."

"Guys, the moon will be rising soon. We need to get moving if we want to keep Moony company tonight."

"We will continue this later," James said with a great deal of malice. Sirius looked as though he wished later would never come.

They covered themselves with the Cloak, and managed to make it to the stairs without any mishap, although if James was a Basilisk, Sirius would definitely be dead. After creeping down the many flights of stairs, and countless hallways, they arrived in the Entrance Hall, just in time to see Madam Pomfrey closing the front doors. She walked past them, presumably to go to the Hospital Wing.

"Shit!" Sirius yelled, not bothering to keep his voice down. "Moony must be about to transform. Prongs, I told you we should have left earlier, I told you to just knock out Frank!"

"Mr. Black!" The three boys froze, even though they knew that they were invisible. Professor McGonagall was standing at the top of the stairs next to Mr. Filch, who was holding his cat. "I don't know where you are, or who you are with, but you had all better come out now, or you will get more than just detentions."


	2. Chapter 2

**So, just a recap. I don't own the characters or the setting. They belong to J.K. Rowling.**

**And so everyone knows, the Marauders are currently in the Entrance Hall, under the Invisibility Cloak, and have just been detected by McGonagall. Well, what are you waiting for? Read the story!! Jeez…**

James and Sirius looked at Peter. A silent conversation passed between them in the blink of an eye, and Peter transformed into his rat shape. James barely suppressed a shudder. With Peter held in Sirius' hand, there was more room under the Cloak, and the other two could move a bit more freely. They began to sneak to the bottom of the stairs.

Their plan was to allow McGonagall and Filch to go down the stairs to look for them, while they snuck up the stairs behind them, and book it back to the tower. It was a plan that they agreed upon back in the first year, although they weren't Animagi yet, and they were considerably smaller. In the four years that they had this plan, they had used it at least five hundred times. Once they had been forced to implement 'Plan Fool The Teachers', as Sirius liked to call it, ten times in one day.

Today it looked like they would be able to maintain their record of never getting caught doing this rather ingenious maneuver. After waiting five minutes for Sirius and the others to give themselves up (not that they thought they would), McGonagall and Filch descended the stairs.

Once they were sufficiently past the stairs, the Marauders began to creep up the flight, thanking their lucky stars that the castle was made of stone, and not wood. Wood would have meant that they would have had to worry about the steps creaking. At the very top, they breathed a sigh of relief, sure that they had gotten away scotch-free. They took one more step.

And a loud siren went off. McGonagall had set up a booby-trap, and it was a miracle that the Cloak didn't fall off as James and Sirius had jumped out of their skins at the sound of the klaxon. They turned around, and saw McGonagall marching up the steps, grim-faced.

Peter squirmed out of Sirius' hand, and ran right in front of McGonagall. She shrieked, and almost fell down the stairs.

"Professor, what is it?" Filch asked, hurrying over to the bottom of the stairs. "Is it them?"

"No, Mr. Filch." she said breathlessly. "It was just a rat."

The two of them went back to their search for the students that were at that very moment collapsing outside a classroom one floor above them. Peter resumed his natural form.

"Wormtail, that was an excellent idea." James complemented him.

"Looks like we aren't seeing Moony tonight." Sirius said glumly.

"Like hell we aren't!" James retorted. "We told him we would be there, and we will! I have a plan…"

Five minutes later, McGonagall and Filch had given up on finding Sirius, and were instead waiting for him to give himself. Since he wasn't there in the first place, they were in for a very long night, but they didn't know that.

"Why do I have to do this?" Sirius whined to James. They were at the top of the stairs, just around the corner.

"Because you have the best chance of pulling it off. Besides, if you can successfully pull this off, then I will forgive you for the cheap stunt you pulled tonight. Now move it, Padfoot!"

Sirius sighed.

In the Entrance Hall, McGonagall heard a noise. It sounded like an animal whining. She turned around…

And found herself face to face with a rather large, shaggy black dog.

"Hello there, how did you get in here?" she asked the dog. Normally she didn't like dogs, but this one had a rough charm about him, and it reminded her of someone. The dog whined, and trotted over to the door. He began to paw at it.

"You want to go outside?" she asked, her voice going at least two octaves higher than normal, like most people's do when they are talking to something that they don't think is as intelligent as themselves.

"Professor, wait!" Filch yelled. Neither he nor McGonagall noticed the dog stiffening as he walked over to the door. "This may be a trick by the Marauders, to get out of the castle."

"Poppycock! Unless they have managed to become Animagi, which is impossible at their age, this is just a dog that one of the students let in as a prank, and all he wants is to go outside."

"But…"

"Look at it this way. If he stays in the castle, he will most likely leave a mess, and you won't want to clean it up."

Filch immediately shut up and opened the door. The dog hesitated for a few seconds, and then trotted out the door, which closed behind him. Neither McGonagall nor Filch noticed a small rat clinging to the belly fur of the dog.

Once the doors were shut and the dog was far enough away that, if the teachers were to open the door they couldn't see him (this didn't take long, since it was pitch black outside), the rat jumped off.

"I can't believe that worked," Sirius grumbled, changing back into his normal form.

"But it did," James told him smugly. "I hate to say I told you so, but… I told you so!"

"Yeah, and McGonagall came really close to figuring out what we are," Peter was worried. "What if she if she does figure it out, and she tells Dumbledore, or the Ministry?"

"She won't." Sirius told him as they began to walk towards the Willow. "She said that it was 'impossible', remember? Come on," he started to grin. "We got a werewolf to visit!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry about the wait for this; I couldn't get to the internet to put this on. Anyways, enjoy!!**

Chapter Three

Peter, James, and Sirius began the walk down to the Whomping Willow. It was dark on the lawn, about ten.

"The moon hasn't risen yet," Sirius murmured.

"Yeah, but it won't stay that way forever," James responded. "We have to keep moving, or we'll be stuck in the Shack with a full werewolf."

"Guys, I see a light!" Peter hissed. They all stopped as the light grew larger, and was then revealed to be a lantern held by the groundskeeper, Hagrid. The Marauder's waited silently as the light passed them, and disappeared into the darkness.

"Do _any_ of the teachers sleep in this school?" James asked, a bit indignant.

"Not for four years and counting, mate." Sirius told him.

"Why not?" Peter was confused.

"Because that's when the four of us were put in the same house, and started sneaking out at night." Sirius' voice had a note of pride in it.

"Yeah, I could have sworn that they were going to burn the Sorting Hat for that particular decision." James chuckled.

"Hey guys, I think we're just about there." Peter whispered, a split second before a long branch whipped towards Sirius, catching him off guard and sending him to the ground.

"Yes, Wormtail, I think we're here, thanks," he muttered sarcastically as he picked himself off the ground.

"Okay Wormtail, go do your thing." James murmured. The boy nodded, turned into a rat, and scurried off into the night. They knew that he was going to push the little knot on the tree, and sure enough, the tree froze, allowing them access to the tunnel underneath the trunk. The other two crawled into the tunnel, and they set off down the small passage. The walk was rather uneventful, as the only things to see were rocks, rocks, and more rocks. That is, it was uneventful until about twenty feet in.

"AAAAAH!" Sirius yelled. He jumped straight up into the air, hitting his head on the ceiling of the tunnel, screaming all the while.

"Padfoot, is something wrong?" James inquired. Sirius often liked to act like a maniac. He claimed that it was to keep everyone on their toes. Though he usually had better timing than this, James mused.

"THERE IS A BLOODY RAT IN MY PANTS!!" Sirius yelled. James began to laugh

"Relax Padfoot. It's just Wormtail. We figured that this would be an awesome prank, since you don't like rats, and we have a rat that can do anything without being trained. He was supposed to wait until Moony could be here to see this, but we can just tell him all about it. Wish I had a camera." James grinned.

"IT'S NOT WORMTAIL! WORMTAIL IS STANDING NEXT TO YOU!"

James looked down to where Sirius was pointing. The rat standing there lifted its forepaw and waved.

"JAMES, GET IT OFF ME!!"

James started to laugh.

"There is an actual rat in your pants? That is hilarious!"

"Nice to know I am amusing you. Now HELP ME!"

Sirius was dancing about trying to remove the invading rodent. But he wasn't having much luck, as the rat seemed to anticipate his every move.

"Prongs!"

James managed to get his laughter under control, and muttered a quick spell. The rat stiffened and fell out of the bottom of Sirius' pant leg. Sirius fell against the wall and slid down it, panting heavily. James picked up the rat.

"Hey, this thing isn't real," he exclaimed. Peter walked over, transforming back into a boy. He took the rat from James, and looked at it closely.

"He's right," Peter informed Sirius, who had warily approached the other two, fully expecting them to throw the rat at him. "It's made out of metal, fake fur, and something called _plastic._"

"What the hell…" Sirius' voice trailed off as he and the others regarded the rat in confusion, trying to decide what on earth it was…

**Hope you like the cliff-hanger! Well, maybe it's not quite a cliff-hanger, but hey! I can pretend too! And maybe I will pretend that everyone that reads this will give me a review!******** (**_**Hint hint)**_


	4. Chapter 4

**WOW, it's been a busy summer. Here you go!!**

Chapter Four

"What is this thing?" Sirius wondered. It looked like a rat, but it was made of plastic, metal and some strange fabric that felt like fur.

"That, my dear Padfoot, would be a remote-controlled rat, which has been bespelled so that it can work at Hogwarts," a voice from down the tunnel remarked. A body soon followed, and the voice was revealed to belong to none other than Remus Lupin.

"Moony!" Sirius yelled. "You are a total wanker! How could you do this to me?"

"Quite easily. I turned the rat on, waved my wand at it, and it moved into your pants. How else do you think I did it?"

"How long have you been working on this, Moony?" James asked.

"For the entire summer, and every spare evening since. I just got it to work last week."

"Moony, I am going to _kill_ you!" Sirius yelled, lunging at his werewolf friend. But as the struggle with the rat had carried them the rest of the way down the tunnel, all Remus had to do was duck back into the Shrieking Shack and shut the door to evade the vengeful Sirius. And he did just that, and Sirius ran face first into the solid wood door.

"Moony, you have to show us how to work these things," James said after Remus reopened the door, ignoring Sirius' moans of pain. "Think of all the pranks we can pull."

"Guys, I hate to be a killjoy, but the moon is going to be rising soon, so we may want to get going," Peter mentioned.

"Yeah, we should," Remus responded, then looked at Sirius. "Are you okay, mate?"

"I dink I broke by dose!" Sirius whimpered, holding his nose, which was gushing blood.

"I'll deal with it," James sighed, and cast a healing spell and a cleaning charm, the former to fix the broken nose, the latter to remove the blood from Sirius' face and clothes.

"Thanks _so_ much, Moony. You're such a _good_ friend. First you scare the shit out of me, and then you break my nose. Bloody wanker," he muttered.

"Watch it Padfoot, or I'll beak more than just your nose," Remus threatened as the four boys walked in to the Shack. He waved his wand suggestively below Sirius' waist. The black haired boy blanched.

"You wouldn't!"

"I hate to agree with Padfoot, but that it hitting a bit below the belt," Peter commented.

"Yeah, but we all know that Moony's bark is worse than his bite," James grinned.

"Hate to break up a lovely chat about whether or not Moony would actually unman me," Sirius interrupted with a lazy drawl, "but as Wormtail has reminded us, the moon will be rising soon, and don't want to be bitten until I am furry and tailed." With that statement, he turned and locked the door leading into the tunnel.

James began to cast spells, while Peter went to check the outside door. They had planned everything out two weeks earlier, when they first came up with the idea to keep Remus company during the full moon.

Remus sat down on the only intact chair left in the Shack.

"So, you figured out the spells, Prongs?" he asked.

"Yep," James answered, handing Remus three collars. "As long as we are wearing these, the three of us will be able to communicate, and you will be safe with us." He beamed.

"It's not me I'm worrying about," Remus muttered, too low for any of the others to hear.

"The door is unlocked and opened a crack," Peter reported as he reentered the room. "We are good to go."

"Then let's get to it!" Sirius was all enthusiasm as he bounded towards the front door. James made a comment about puppies and treats, to which Sirius stuck out his tongue. At the door, Sirius transformed, followed by Peter and James. Remus put one of the collars on each of them. Sirius' had a tag on it in the shape of a paw print, with 'Padfoot' etched in it. Peter's had 'Wormtail' carved on a rat for a tag, while James had a hoof-print with the word 'Prongs' on it. Sirius and Peter were amusing themselves by playing hide-and-go-seek, while James stuck by Remus, who was reluctant to come out of the Shack.

"_Why won't Moony come out?"_ Peter asked through the collar, and Sirius promptly pounced on him.

"_Excellent James, we can tell where the speaker is when they think at us!"_ He gave a huge doggy grin as he padded over to stand next to James.

"You guys, I'm not too sure we should…" Remus started to say, but before he could finish his sentence he yelled in pain, and began to change. The others jumped, startled by the sudden change.

"_I didn't know it was that painful to transform,_" Peter whispered into everyone's thoughts as they watched the transformation.

"_Or quick. There he goes!"_ James yelled. The three Animagi leaped after the werewolf, but he quickly evaded them.

"_Shit. Now what?"_ Sirius wondered. The others had no answer for him.

**Alright. Hope you all liked it, now onto the next chapter!!**


	5. Chapter 5

**So here's the next chapter. Hope you are all enjoying the story so far : )**

Chapter Five

"_Okay, he can't have gone far. Padfoot, can you sniff him out?"_ James asked the large black dog.

"_Sure, if I had any idea how to sniff someone out. What do normal dogs do?"_ Sirius looked frustrated.

"_Just try to smell the same smell that Moony left behind. If we can't find him…"_ James didn't finish the sentence. None of them wanted to contemplate the consequences of Remus being loose without supervision.

"_Okay, I think I got it. He really stinks as a werewolf."_ Sirius sneezed a couple of times, and then began to run, pausing to sniff the ground every several steps.

"_Padfoot, can you move any faster? This is taking forever!"_ Peter complained from his position between James' shoulders.

"_Do you want to do this, Wormtail? It's really hard,"_ Sirius retorted.

"_I don't think you need to sniff him anymore, Padfoot. We can see him now," _James informed him. "_He's stopped for a bit. I think… Oh, that is disgusting!" _

"_What is it?"_

"_He's eating a cat. And I think it's still alive."_

"_Not anymore. Come on, let's get him under control."_

The Animagi raced towards Remus, who was so focused on his midnight snack that he didn't notice the dog or stag until they were on top of him. They began to steer him towards the Forest, away from the village. Remus tried to get away several times, but the two were determined not to let him get away again.

Once in the Forest, they all collapsed in a large furry heap, Remus on the bottom.

"_I don't want to do that again. I have muscles aching that I didn't know I had, and that I wish I didn't."_ Sirius complained.

"_Yes, but Padfoot, we are in the Forest! And there are no teachers, and even if there were, they wouldn't be able to tell it was us! This is amazing!"_ Peter was bouncing all over the place.

"_You're only happy because you got to hitch a free ride and didn't have to do anything to get here." _ Sirius grumbled. "_If you had to actually work to get here, you would be singing a different tune."_

"_Maybe we should spend some time exercising before next time. I mean, run around in our animal forms. Then we would be ready for all of this," _James wearily got to his feet, and nudged Sirius up. "_I think Moony wants to run some more."_

"_Bloody wanker had better appreciate this. I haven't been this sore since we turned all of the Slytherins robes pink and frilly."_

"_That was worth it though," _James reminisced. "_I was so glad that that broom cupboard was there."_

"_And that they never noticed it,"_ Peter added, before adding that Moony was off again. With a groan, Sirius gave immediate chase, James waiting for Peter to climb on again before once more setting off.

"_How can he have so much energy?"_ James wondered out loud, as Remus raced about the Forest.

"_The question isn't how he can so much energy, but how we're going to get enough energy,"_ Sirius grumbled. He was beginning to think his nice, warm bed in the dormitory was just a dream. A nice dream, but a dream nonetheless.

Everything was going well. They were managing to keep Remus under control, and to keep themselves from passing out.

"_Shit!"_ Sirius yelled.

"_What?"_ Peter mumbled sleepily. He had been having a nap.

"_There are some people here, camping. We must have left the Forest when he went through that field. I think they're Muggles."_

"_Bloody hell. We have to get Moony back to the Shack, so Pomfrey doesn't know that he left. Come on!"_ James raced to get Remus turned around.

"_Padfoot, you need to lure the Muggles away from here. If I can't control Moony, they'll be in danger!"_

"_Right!"_ Sirius peeled away from the others to herd the Muggles away from the werewolf that was refusing to be deterred. James and Sirius had kept him from eating anything, and now he was hungry.

There were five Muggles, a grandmother, two adults, and two children, the youngest of which was about five. She was the first one to see Sirius racing towards them.

"Look Mummy! A doggy!"

Sirius didn't want to hurt her, but he couldn't let them stay there. They seemed to have come out to look at the stars, judging by the telescope that they had trained on the skies. So he ran over to the telescope, and seized it in his jaws. With little effort, he was able to take off with it.

"_Prongs, you need to get Moony turned around now! I don't think I can move all five of them!"_ he yelled as the two parents and the other child, a boy of twelve, chased him around the clearing. Sirius was reluctant to go into the woods, as he now had no idea where Remus was.

"_I have an idea,"_ Peter said. Without saying anything more, he jumped off of James' back, and ran towards Remus. He stopped in front of the werewolf, and let Remus get a good look at him. Then he ran in the direction that they wanted Remus to go in. The werewolf followed.

"_Sirius, quit playing with the telescope, and come help us keep Moony going to the Shack,"_ James ordered. Sirius had seen Peter turn Remus around, and had let the Muggles catch him. They hadn't seemed too mad, and were now petting him and stroking him.

"_Awww, I was having a good time,"_ he complained, getting to his feet and running back into the woods.

"_Good time later, keep Moony from getting expelled now,"_ James scolded. They had entered a section of the Forest that they recognized, and they knew that they would be able to get back into the Shack before the moon set.

As it turned out, they had barely made it back. The owner of the cat that had become werewolf food was searching for his lost kitty. The three Animagi had scarcely herded Remus into the Shack before he transformed back.

"Hey guys," he whispered hoarsely. "Was it a good night?"

"_How much do we tell him?"_ Peter asked.

"_We tell him about the Muggles in a week or so. We never mention the cat. Agreed?"_ Sirius looked at the others as Remus got up to take off the collars.

"_Agreed,"_ the other two said, right before Remus removed Peter's collar.

"Hi Moony," he said cheerfully.

"Hey Wormtail," Remus chuckled, taking off James' collar while Peter relieved Sirius of his. James and Sirius both greeted Remus, James with a hello, Sirius by jumping up to lick Remus' face before turning back into a boy.

"Ewww! Padfoot, you are a dead man!"

The four of them wrestled for a bit, Peter on Sirius' side, while James sided with Remus. They only stopped when Remus stopped moving entirely, and suddenly.

"Madam Pomfrey! She'll be here soon, and she can't see you! You have to move now!"

"How long does it take her?" Sirius asked as they began to move to the tunnel door.

"About half an hour after I transform. You should have enough time if you go now, and run." They were at the door now.

"Right," James said. "We'll see you later Moony, okay?"

"Yah, sure, just go!" They went.


	6. Chapter 6

**Here's the final chapter. Sorry it took so long guys!**

Chapter Six

The trio of Marauders set off for the castle. They had narrowly avoided Pomfrey, who had just entered their line of sight when the freezing spell on the Willow wore off. The three of them crept up to the castle. As they drew closer, they saw two figures at the front door. McGonagall and Filch. They were talking, and after two minutes, Filch went inside. The Transfiguration professor stayed at the door.

"If I had known that they would be at the door, I would have snuck in through the Honeydukes passage," Sirius grumbled. "Now we have to get past her."

"Maybe she'll let the dog back in?" James suggested.

"Doubt it. Dogs aren't allowed. If she did let me in, she'd take me straight to an office, and leave me there until someone 'fessed up that I was theirs," Sirius sighed. "We have to sneak in somehow. They've already searched the dorm, I bet. They know I was out, for sure."

"We could try going back up the Willow passage," James said.

"Nah, too risky. Pomfrey's at the Shack. We can't go back until she leaves. Otherwise, she'll catch us." Peter told him.

"Then we wait," Sirius said definitively. "McGonagall has to go inside sometime. Even teachers need bathroom breaks. When she goes to answer the call of nature, we'll get in."

"That may take a while," Peter was doubtful that this plan would work.

"We can use the time to figure out an excuse for being out all night." James mused. The three settled down on the grass as best they could, seeing as they had to huddle next together to keep the Cloak from coming off.

After what seemed like a lifetime, but was really ten minutes, McGonagall went back inside. Sirius woke up James, who had fallen asleep with his thumb in his mouth. Peter had already taken several blackmail pictures.

They hurried to the doors, anxious to get back in before anyone came out. So they didn't see the large dog that was on a collision course with them until it was too late. Hagrid's dog Jaws came out of nowhere, and ran into them. As he picked himself up, and continued chasing the rabbit that had streaked past the boys seconds earlier, James noticed something… different.

"He's got the Cloak!"

Sure enough, the dog had gotten the Cloak wrapped around his tail, and was rapidly dragging it away.

"I'll get it!" Peter yelled, and chased after Jaws. The other two continued into the castle. Their plan was to get to their dormitory. They figured that if they could get there, then they could argue that McGonagall had no proof that they were out all night. Peter had come up the idea that Sirius had had a bad stomach ache, and that James and Peter had taken him to the hospital wing to get some medicine, because Sirius wouldn't shut up about it. If Madame Pomfrey said that she hadn't seen them, then their answer was that Sirius had started to feel better before they got there, and they had turned around and gone back.

But the whole thing hinged on them getting back to the dorm unseen. And without the Cloak, it was going to be more difficult, especially since the Marauders hadn't ever snuck around without it before, and they didn't know how to effectively get past the teachers and portraits without it.

Which was why they got caught within five minutes of entering the castle.

"Potter! Black! My office, NOW!"

Busted.

An hour later, they were released from the office. Peter and Remus were waiting for them, Peter carrying a book bag. As they left together, he wordlessly pulled out the Cloak, and gave it to James.

"You didn't make it to the dorm, did you?" he asked.

"Didn't even get out of the Entrance Hall," Sirius said sadly. "She was coming down the stairs just as we were going up. We didn't have a chance."

"And now we have detentions every Saturday for two months, and we lost twenty-five points each. And I can't play Quidditch until we're done the detentions. Damn it! I'm going to kill that dog…"

"As you can tell, James is pissed. However, I don't know that Jaws is the one to get mad at. After all, Padfoot was the one that made McGonagall suspicious about our whereabouts," Peter informed Remus.

"Yeah, but if I had known that she would be there, I would've suggested going in a different way! That's got to count for something!" Sirius told him, sticking his tongue out.

"If I'd known that dog was there, then we wouldn't have been seen, and I would still be able to play Quidditch."

They continued on in that vein for a while, until they got to their dorm. As they were sitting on the beds, Peter joked that they should make a map that showed where everyone was. Remus, who had been lying down, sat upright.

"Wormtail, that is brilliant!"

"I was joking!"

"I'm not."

"Could you make it work, Moony?" James asked. Remus got up, and pulled Sirius off the bed.

"I need to check it out in the library. Come on Sirius, I'm going to need help, and you're going to help me."

**Hope you liked it! Once again, sincere apologies about the delay in the updating.**


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